Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Pope John Paul II praying at St. Mary of the Portiuncula in Assisi

Toward the Mother of Jesus, St. Francis was filled with inexpressible love, because it was she who made the Lord of Majesty our brother. He composed and sang special Praises to her, poured out prayers to her, offered her his affections, so many and so great that the tongue of man cannot recount them. But what delights us most, he made her the advocate of the Order and placed under her wings the sons he was about to leave that she might cherish them and protect them to the end.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Celano, Second Life
CHAPTER CXLIX

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